French economists tell government to legalise cannabis to bring in extra €2.8bn

Based on annual consumption of 500 to 700 tonnes a year, taxes on legal pot could bring as much as €2.8 billion to the state and create up to 80,000 jobs

The Local (France)Friday, June 21, 2019

A group of French economists have recommended legalising marijuana, arguing it would add billions to state coffers, but President Emmanuel Macron's government ruled out letting recreational users get legally high. The Council of Economic Analysis (CAE), a body tasked with advising the government, noted that despite having some of Europe's toughest drugs laws, the French are the continent's heaviest users of pot. Around 700,000 people are believed to use the drug every day. "The system of prohibition promoted by France over the past 50 years has been a failure," the CAE said in a report, accusing the ban of fuelling organised crime. The report, which was not commissioned by the government, comes amid a growing debate in France over whether to legalise recreational marijuana.

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